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Trance
2005 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction
A Los Angeles Times Book Review Favorite Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Top Ten Novel of the Year
It is 1974 and a tiny band of self-styled urban guerrillas, calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), abducts a newspaper heiress, who then takes the guerrilla name"Tania" and shocks the world by choosing to remain with her former captors. Soon most of the SLA are dead, killed in a suicidal confrontation with police in Los Angeles, forcing Tania and her two remaining comrades--the pompous and abusive General Teko and his duplicitous lieutenant, Yolanda--into hiding, where they will remain for the next sixteen months. These are the months of Tania's sentimental education.
A Los Angeles Times Book Review Favorite Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Top Ten Novel of the Year
It is 1974 and a tiny band of self-styled urban guerrillas, calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), abducts a newspaper heiress, who then takes the guerrilla name"Tania" and shocks the world by choosing to remain with her former captors. Soon most of the SLA are dead, killed in a suicidal confrontation with police in Los Angeles, forcing Tania and her two remaining comrades--the pompous and abusive General Teko and his duplicitous lieutenant, Yolanda--into hiding, where they will remain for the next sixteen months. These are the months of Tania's sentimental education.
528 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
10 people are currently reading
702 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Sorrentino
16 books43 followersChristopher Sorrentino (born May 20, 1963) is an American novelist and short story writer of Puerto Rican descent. He is the son of novelist Gilbert Sorrentino and Victoria Ortiz. His first published novel, Sound on Sound (1995), draws upon innovations pioneered in the work of his father, but also contains echoes of many other modernist and postmodernist writers. The book is structured according to the format of a multitrack recording session, with corresponding section titles ("Secondary Percussion", "Vocals", "Playback", and so forth).
His second novel, Trance (2005), an epic fictional treatment of the Patty Hearst saga, used many of the same experimental techniques as Sound on Sound, but, according to Sorrentino, incorporated them more carefully and subtly into the text. The book was widely praised for its lush descriptions, riveting characterizations and dialogue, imaginative departures, and attention to period detail. Trance ended up on several reviewers' "best" lists, was named a finalist for the 2005 National Book Award for Fiction, and was longlisted for the 2007 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. In 2009, Trance was named one of the "61 Essential Postmodern Reads" by the Los Angeles Times.
His second novel, Trance (2005), an epic fictional treatment of the Patty Hearst saga, used many of the same experimental techniques as Sound on Sound, but, according to Sorrentino, incorporated them more carefully and subtly into the text. The book was widely praised for its lush descriptions, riveting characterizations and dialogue, imaginative departures, and attention to period detail. Trance ended up on several reviewers' "best" lists, was named a finalist for the 2005 National Book Award for Fiction, and was longlisted for the 2007 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. In 2009, Trance was named one of the "61 Essential Postmodern Reads" by the Los Angeles Times.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 13, 2016
One of the real literary masterpieces of the last decade, Trance singlehandedly gives the lie to anyone who would call the novel dead. No one would ever mistake Christopher Sorrentino's career for those of Don DeLillo, Denis Johnson, or Philip Roth in terms of prolificacy, but Trance is every bit as strong a novel as Libra, Tree of Smoke, or American Pastoral.
April 24, 2009
I had a complicated reaction to this book. I liked the historical fiction part of it, in the same way that I liked American Pastoral and Libra, but it was kind of a mash up of those two books. It took a pretty similar kind of experience as Roth's book (or to be fair this was about Patty Hearst / SLA while Roth's book was about a similar kind of experience but from a more middle class stand-point, like from the parents view of one of the other kids involved in the SLA), and like Delilo's book it kind of made a bit of a mess of history and created it's own believable mythology out of what happened. Unlike Libra though it didn't seem to quite capture the all encompassing history where I could totally believe this is what happened, where the characters just came alive with their (cough) zeitgeist-ness. But then unlike in Roth's book the characters never really became flushed out enough to really take me into their motivations and psychology. Does that make any sense? Especially the character of Patty Hearst never seems to be much more than an image, in the start of the book and every now and then the story shifts enough to give her perspective, but mainly she comes across as a spectacle, as some piece of emptiness that is muddled in the way that people (mis)view her, but which doesn't allow any real refutation of the roles others are creating out of her. She's almost an emptiness, an absence of person who changes over the course of the book but that change is more from the different people who are involved in the case than by anything she does. Maybe that is the point of all this in some much clearer way than I'm making it sound now.
I wanted to like the book more. At times I liked it as much as a five star book, at times I really was disappointed with the book so the real star rating is probably a three and a half, but it's a strong three and a half.
I wanted to like the book more. At times I liked it as much as a five star book, at times I really was disappointed with the book so the real star rating is probably a three and a half, but it's a strong three and a half.
sampled
July 2, 2023Tried twice to read this one. The prose, the dialogue, the structure, the characters, the setting, the 500+pp length, and the font size in this triple-cheeseburger-spined UK edition all irritate me.
June 9, 2018
People in Trance
Negli ultimi anni si nota una proliferazione di romanzi americani che, da diversi punti di vista, prendono a soggetto i movimenti alternativi e libertari sorti negli States degli anni ’60-70, pacifisti-ecologisti o, come in questo caso, più apertamente rivoluzionari e non restii ad atti di violenza.
Il libro di Christopher Sorrentino si inscrive in questa tendenza vertendo soprattutto sulla nota vicenda del gruppo radicale denominatosi Esercito di Liberazione Simbionese, attivo dal 1973 al 1975, e del rapimento di Patricia Hearst.
Dal punto di vista narrativo l’autore sembra deliberatamente rifuggire dagli aspetti più eclatanti delle azioni che avvengono quasi “fuori campo” (eventi già accaduti oppure visti attraverso la Tv, letti in cronaca o descritti dalla parte della vittima) per concentrarsi piuttosto sulla vita quotidiana nella latitanza della vittima/complice e dei suoi sgangherati rapitori.
Si tratta tuttavia di personaggi (l’una e gli altri) che, privi di qualunque afflato romantico e di un minimo spessore politico, sembrano muoversi come in trance(*), irresponsabili trascinati da pulsioni distruttive e autodistruttive alternate a pause di riflessione rivolte non tanto al significato e alle conseguenze delle loro “missioni”, quanto alle preoccupazioni individuali di come riuscire a sottrarsi alle proprie responsabilità, materiali ed esistenziali.
Sorrentino, non pago di avere affrontato di petto una vicenda di tale portata in termini di ricaduta sulla società americana di quegli anni, disperde ben presto la sua attenzione e la sua ispirazione verso mille rivoli, mettendo in opera una lunghissima e un po’ estenuante trama (quasi 600 pagine…!) che va aggrovigliandosi con l’intervento di un’interminabile serie di attori: fiancheggiatori, testimoni, parenti, agenti dell’FBI, infiltrati; mirando, in modo invero più ambizioso che efficace, a presentare uno spaccato completo dell’epoca e delle tensioni palpabili nell’aria dei tempi, il tutto messo in moto da un gruppetto di litigiosi balordi, così almeno come vengono presentati in questo ipertrofico romanzo.
(*) Trance è il titolo originale del romanzo, non quello sciocco e ruffiano dell'edizione italiana...
Negli ultimi anni si nota una proliferazione di romanzi americani che, da diversi punti di vista, prendono a soggetto i movimenti alternativi e libertari sorti negli States degli anni ’60-70, pacifisti-ecologisti o, come in questo caso, più apertamente rivoluzionari e non restii ad atti di violenza.
Il libro di Christopher Sorrentino si inscrive in questa tendenza vertendo soprattutto sulla nota vicenda del gruppo radicale denominatosi Esercito di Liberazione Simbionese, attivo dal 1973 al 1975, e del rapimento di Patricia Hearst.
Dal punto di vista narrativo l’autore sembra deliberatamente rifuggire dagli aspetti più eclatanti delle azioni che avvengono quasi “fuori campo” (eventi già accaduti oppure visti attraverso la Tv, letti in cronaca o descritti dalla parte della vittima) per concentrarsi piuttosto sulla vita quotidiana nella latitanza della vittima/complice e dei suoi sgangherati rapitori.
Si tratta tuttavia di personaggi (l’una e gli altri) che, privi di qualunque afflato romantico e di un minimo spessore politico, sembrano muoversi come in trance(*), irresponsabili trascinati da pulsioni distruttive e autodistruttive alternate a pause di riflessione rivolte non tanto al significato e alle conseguenze delle loro “missioni”, quanto alle preoccupazioni individuali di come riuscire a sottrarsi alle proprie responsabilità, materiali ed esistenziali.
Sorrentino, non pago di avere affrontato di petto una vicenda di tale portata in termini di ricaduta sulla società americana di quegli anni, disperde ben presto la sua attenzione e la sua ispirazione verso mille rivoli, mettendo in opera una lunghissima e un po’ estenuante trama (quasi 600 pagine…!) che va aggrovigliandosi con l’intervento di un’interminabile serie di attori: fiancheggiatori, testimoni, parenti, agenti dell’FBI, infiltrati; mirando, in modo invero più ambizioso che efficace, a presentare uno spaccato completo dell’epoca e delle tensioni palpabili nell’aria dei tempi, il tutto messo in moto da un gruppetto di litigiosi balordi, così almeno come vengono presentati in questo ipertrofico romanzo.
(*) Trance è il titolo originale del romanzo, non quello sciocco e ruffiano dell'edizione italiana...
April 11, 2022
Superb, a fictional reteling of a (relatively) recent historical episode retold with great imaginative leaps and lashings of mordent humour. I'd compare it favourably with Libra
Intresting that the edition I have appears to be some sort of trade paperback as it lacks a copyright page and features a cover not found in any of the editions list on GR. Could be because it's a blown up verion of the famous picture of Patti Hearst taken during the bank robbery and her name is notably one of the few changed to a fictional version for the novel. So perhaps to avoid any danger of a libel suit?
Intresting that the edition I have appears to be some sort of trade paperback as it lacks a copyright page and features a cover not found in any of the editions list on GR. Could be because it's a blown up verion of the famous picture of Patti Hearst taken during the bank robbery and her name is notably one of the few changed to a fictional version for the novel. So perhaps to avoid any danger of a libel suit?
January 31, 2014
This is a big book both in physical heft and in scope. On the first count it turns out to be bigger than it should have been, but the second count is where Sorrentino succeeds. Those looking here for a fairly straight forward fictionalization of the Hearst kidnapping scandal will be disappointed. The Hearst stand in character is there, but there's so much else going on she often recedes to the periphery. The focus of the book is the failure and hollowness of radical politics and the place American culture found itself in the early 70s. The violent radicals are angry and dissatisfied, but they aren't quite certain of the causes. They hate the "fascist insects" and the bourgeois and they are out to bring down the government. In practice however they are out for little more than media attention, a bit of spending cash and freedom in the sense of being free from having to show up to a miserable job in the morning. As the story progresses the characters themselves come to see the hollowness of what they are doing. They do really hate the current system, but they don't have an answer, just a feeling of vague dissatisfaction. Sorrentino peoples his book with countless characters all of whom feel fully rendered. Through the different backgrounds, experiences and relationship to the SLA of these characters Sorrentino paints a complicated picture of an age. Unfortunately an excess of these characters and peripheral incidents ultimately make the story unwieldy and at times distracting.
January 13, 2013
the review sounded great... a gripping portrait-of-America fictionalized imagining of the Patty Hearst kidnapping of the late 70s.
Don DeLilloesque in scope, with snide little dashes of humour throughout.
And yet... I just. couldn't. get. into. it.
Forced myself rather grumpily through all 500+ pages.
oh well.
next!
Don DeLilloesque in scope, with snide little dashes of humour throughout.
And yet... I just. couldn't. get. into. it.
Forced myself rather grumpily through all 500+ pages.
oh well.
next!
March 11, 2025
The first quarter of the book is absolutely excellent.
Then ............................................... "pigs" ................ "fascists" ...................... .............................. .................................... .................. "pigs" ........................... *something about yoga facilitating anal sex* .................................... "fascist" ................................ .................... ............................. fascists ..................... pigs ..................... *oooohhh, another lengthy, overly detailed introduction to yet another irrelevant character, god help me* ....................... ........... *another tedious, overstretched, pointless dialog, i cant ...* ....................... "I want to write about the greatest oral sex I have ever had. Now let me say that due to my above-average (ten inches) endowment I have never had satisfactory oral pleasure from any woman. I have long wanted someone who would eat me — all of me — whenever I so desired, swallowing all of the frothing sperm cocktail I pumped into her soft willing mouth, while asking nothing more in return than to be regularly walked, fed, and watered, the ultimate lover and soul mate. Well, in my four-year-old collie Donna I have found mine. Donna is gorgeous, with a long, silky coat and expressive brown eyes. One day when she was a puppy I awoke to find her licking dried sperm from my abdomen (I’d fallen asleep after jerking off). Well, one thing led to another and before I knew it I’d trained her to pleasure me orally. Now, let me tell you about the beautiful blow jobs I receive from Donna. Not once in four years has she bitten me, not even a nip." ..................................... *pour of pointless details* .................................... *pour of pointless details* ........................................ ....................................... .................. .............................. .................. .................................
End of the book.
This is how my brain processed it. Basically, it's unreadable because of how many unnecessary details the book introduces, even given the genre in which it is written. I generally prefer Libra more.
Then ............................................... "pigs" ................ "fascists" ...................... .............................. .................................... .................. "pigs" ........................... *something about yoga facilitating anal sex* .................................... "fascist" ................................ .................... ............................. fascists ..................... pigs ..................... *oooohhh, another lengthy, overly detailed introduction to yet another irrelevant character, god help me* ....................... ........... *another tedious, overstretched, pointless dialog, i cant ...* ....................... "I want to write about the greatest oral sex I have ever had. Now let me say that due to my above-average (ten inches) endowment I have never had satisfactory oral pleasure from any woman. I have long wanted someone who would eat me — all of me — whenever I so desired, swallowing all of the frothing sperm cocktail I pumped into her soft willing mouth, while asking nothing more in return than to be regularly walked, fed, and watered, the ultimate lover and soul mate. Well, in my four-year-old collie Donna I have found mine. Donna is gorgeous, with a long, silky coat and expressive brown eyes. One day when she was a puppy I awoke to find her licking dried sperm from my abdomen (I’d fallen asleep after jerking off). Well, one thing led to another and before I knew it I’d trained her to pleasure me orally. Now, let me tell you about the beautiful blow jobs I receive from Donna. Not once in four years has she bitten me, not even a nip." ..................................... *pour of pointless details* .................................... *pour of pointless details* ........................................ ....................................... .................. .............................. .................. .................................
End of the book.
This is how my brain processed it. Basically, it's unreadable because of how many unnecessary details the book introduces, even given the genre in which it is written. I generally prefer Libra more.
October 19, 2025
I'm calling it at page 160. While I appreciate some of the more poetic descriptions that I've come across, I just cant get into this book. There is sooo much detail referencing niche American, social and political culture in the 1970s, referencing sports stars and social characters that I've never heard of, as well as local geographical nuances that only those who have lived in the US for a long time would understand.... As an Australian who was born after these events took place, a great deal of the text is completely lost on me. Another aggravating thing is that each character is, at random times - often on the same page - referred to by at least 4 names. They use their actual, given name, their surname, their alias as well as their title or role... so it's very hard to keep on top of who's talking to who or what's going on. I'm sure there are a multitude of errors throughout the book too (though it could just be me missing something). Page 147, for example, Guy goes to the apartment to meet Susan but is held up by Teko and Tania... then through the door comes Susan and some person who just appears out of nowhere called Diane Shephard... but then the next paragraph it just talks about 3 of them in the apartment with Guy... sorry?? what happened to Diane Shepherd??? please enlighten me if I've missed something here!
Im frustrated that I've started something that it will be a waste of time for me to finish, but thats just what it seems to be.
Im frustrated that I've started something that it will be a waste of time for me to finish, but thats just what it seems to be.
August 17, 2017
la storia di patty hearts e dell'esercito di liberazione simbionese, con molte libertà narrative. ci sono momenti che girano a vuoto e momenti assai confusi, certi personaggi sono davvero privi di spessore (specie tenendo conto di quelli che giganteggiano: tania e joan su tutti) e ,a dirla tutta, forse avrei preferito andasse avanti almeno fino al processo, però anche così mi ha tenuto sulla pagine, si lasciato leggere con piacere, e alla fine provi nostalgia per tutti i personaggi, persino per quelli più stronzi. insomma: gran bel libro. libro che in originale si chiama "trance", e ci sta bene come titolo, descrive bene questa situazione di "stasi" che da un certo punto in poi sembra colpire le menti dei nostri prodi guerriglieri, lasciandoli in un limbo dove restano incapaci di agire davvero, autodistruggendo il loro gruppo, e titolo che soprattutto descrive la situazione di patty/alice/tania, il grande mistero dietro la sua scelta (sindrome di stoccolma o -alla fine- davvero cominciava a crederci?). e invece in italia si vuole strizzare l'occhio a chi si era commosso con la terrorista di "pastorale americana" di roth. mah...
September 8, 2020
"Besides, here is an ad, for this package of frozen waffles, across which a banner runs pledging "Improved Waffle Taste!" This is the sort of embedded, subliminal stupidity that colors everyone's book of days. You don't need to go any further if you're looking for a reason to overthrow the established order. Here it is. Waffles with improved waffle taste. Do they even hear what they're saying."
Everyone is shouting and no one is listening. White activists radicalizing and committing poorly planned, mostly petty, stupid, oft violent-means-out-of-all-proportion-to-the-ends crimes in the name of civil rights, blind to a vast world in the distance. Others seek to profit off of the story. Nothing productive results from excessive expenditure of resources on every side. Sounds familiar...
Everyone is shouting and no one is listening. White activists radicalizing and committing poorly planned, mostly petty, stupid, oft violent-means-out-of-all-proportion-to-the-ends crimes in the name of civil rights, blind to a vast world in the distance. Others seek to profit off of the story. Nothing productive results from excessive expenditure of resources on every side. Sounds familiar...
September 2, 2008
Sorrentino fictionalizes the story of Patty Hearst, exploring the aftermath of her kidnapping. The central mystery in Patty Hearst's life, of course, is why she chose to identify with her kidnappers and become an armed revolutionary. Sorrentino dances around this question, implying that Patty, here called Tania most of the time, doesn't even really know herself. I think the unknowability of that transformation is part of his point, but I wanted him to offer some sort of answer of why she does what she does. The book left me feeling a little unsatisfied, and not particularly entranced.
April 25, 2011
This book was SUPER SUPER SUPER long. And while I thought the story would be interesting (and it was at times) it was SUPER SUPER SUPER long. I skipped about 100 pages in the middle and didn't feel like I missed anything and had no problem with following the story lines. Could have been 200 pages shorter...
May 4, 2013
An interesting, if long-winded novel. Huge, deep themes combine with some dark humor. I liked it but found some sections to be unnecessary. Lots of loose ends and a large amount of side characters. The focus is sprawling, which both helps and hinders the book. It's definitely not for everybody, but I think many readers can appreciate it.
March 12, 2010
Boring is what I thought of this book. So much so I didn't make it past page 50. I thought it would be really interesting to read a novel dealing with Patty Hearst but this novel seemed uninterested in her. Oh well.
October 4, 2013
I don't really do reviews anymore, and I don't feel like doing a full review of this one. And while there are good parts of this book, it got really annoying that every single female character gets into radical politics because of some boy she liked.
October 8, 2015
Fantastic and substantive novel about the 60s, the SLA and our country's response, and Patty Hearst. Very funny at times, and with smooth and creative use of different voices. Others compare the author to Roth and Dellilo but he puts me in mind of Boyle and Powers. Recommended.
July 16, 2007
I had to read this book for a class. It was sooo long. I don't think any of us actually got through it. It gets two stars for being so detailed and clearly deeply-researched.
Read
October 17, 2007admirable and disappointing
October 28, 2009
Eh... Just couldn't get into this. Drawing on real-life evidence from the Hearst kidnapping case, the author riffs on the SLA's interior lives and makes them deadly dull in the process.
Currently reading
January 16, 2009one smart read......
January 14, 2010
"Fictionalized" Patty Hearst, SLA, novel. Quite true to the facts, but one still doesn't understand Patty.
May 3, 2015
Simply superb. Sorrentino is a genuine successor of one of the most powerful authors I have read, Don DeLillo. I can't recommend this book strongly enough.
May 21, 2007
Not sure how this got nominated for an NBA.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews